Digital Only Subscription
Read the digital SMART Edition of The Times-Tribune on your PC or mobile device, and have 24/7 access to breaking news, local sports, contests, and more at thetimes-tribune.com or on our mobile apps.

Digital Services
Have news alerts sent to your mobile device, read the Smart Edition sign up for daily newsletters, activate your all access, enter contests, take quizzes, download our mobile apps and see the latest e-circulars.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
(read more)

Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
(read more)

Article Tools

Jill Biden, Ed.D., the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, rallied Democratic campaign troops Monday in Scranton to remind Pennsylvanians to register to vote before the state's deadline today.

In the first day of a two-day campaign swing through Pennsylvania, Dr. Biden visited the Obama/Biden campaign's Scranton field office on Wyoming Avenue.

During an 8½-minute speech, she sounded a theme that the Obama administration's policies have moved the country "forward" in various areas, including: education; bringing troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan; bringing Osama bin Laden to justice; expanding G.I. Bill benefits; ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"; promoting women's rights, particularly in health care; improving the economy; and bailing out the auto industry.

"Over the last four years, we've really seen what 'forward' really means," Dr. Biden said. "And it means that since the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we had 31 straight months of private-sector job growth, the unemployment rate has gone down, and forward means the auto industry, which was on the verge of collapse, is now up on its feet again."`

Noting she grew up in the Keystone State, Dr. Biden said she closely watched the developments surrounding an injunction that will keep the state's voter ID law from being enforced on Election Day, Nov. 6. She urged supporters to remind voters that they "do not need a photo ID to vote." The line drew loud applause from the roughly 100 people packed in the narrow, long room filled with colorful, handmade campaign posters.

Dr. Biden also encouraged volunteers to help organize their communities between now and Election Day and thanked them for their work.

"Going forward doesn't just happen on its own. That's why I'm here today. That is why you're here today. Because It's going to take all of us, every single one of you," Dr. Biden told the crowd. "The voter registration deadline for Pennsylvania is just hours away, and we need every hour. We need you to go out and get people to register to vote because we have to keep taking this country forward on Election Day."

She continued: "After the registration deadline, go out and talk to your friends. Go out and talk to your neighbors. Sign up to volunteer to canvass to make phone calls. We have to keep moving this country forward, and you're going to do that for us."

An Oct. 1 article by the website Politico reported that the Obama/Biden campaign since mid-September began using Dr. Biden to headline solo campaign events as a way to connect with constituencies of teachers, veterans, military members and their families and women.

A full-time English teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, Dr. Biden said the vice president was "home preparing for the debate" Thursday against his Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Accompanied by their daughter, Ashley, Dr. Biden noted that "politics is kind of a family business," and said they enjoy visiting the vice president's boyhood hometown of Scranton. "You can't be a Biden and not go back to Scranton. Scranton is kind of ingrained in the Biden blood."

Dr. Biden started Monday with a campaign appearance in Harrisburg, before trekking to Scranton and other canvass kick-off events in Hazleton and Allentown. Today, she is scheduled to appear in Reading, Lancaster and Philadelphia, according to the campaign.

Raykia Koroma, 20, of Bronx, N.Y., a University of Scranton student studying biology with a history minor, gave Dr. Biden a note from a student "college Democrats" club at the university. Ms. Koroma said she attended, "to show my support from Scranton, and I'm also going do some get-out-the-vote phone-banking, and I want to ensure that Pennsylvania goes blue."

Calling himself a "small cog in a big wheel," Scranton resident Dave Dobrzyn said he has been volunteering for the campaign since April and has been making phone calls to senior citizens to deliver "the Obama message and trying to convince them to stick with the (Obama) plan."

Nellie Gordon, a Democratic party activist from Monroe County, attended the event with her 11-year-old daughter, Anna, who got to pose for a photo with Dr. Biden.

Wearing an Obama "44th President" baseball cap, Tom Gansel, a volunteer at the campaign's Scranton office and Marywood University student, said he helped register 104 people to vote in the past seven days in a last-minute voter registration push.

"I got to get these in today," said Mr. Gansel, 20, nodding to two more voter registrations in his hand.

Clarks Summit resident Lisa Davis said she admires Dr. Biden's support of military families and believes it is genuine because the second lady's son, Beau, served overseas in Iraq for the Delaware Army National Guard.

Ms. Davis' brother, Mike, is an Army captain.

"The Bidens are a military family, and so are we," said Ms. Davis, 44, who was joined by her mother Linda Eggerstorfer, 66.

After Dr. Biden finished her remarks, Helen Owens of Scranton said she appreciated several references to education, teachers and community colleges.

"That's so important," she said. "I have a bunch of grandchildren that are very interested in that. I thought she was great. She's so down to earth."

Before Dr. Biden spoke in Scranton, Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien delivered a Democratic stump speech for the re-election of President Obama and Vice President Biden, and for the re-election of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who is being challenged by Republican Tom Smith.

Saying Sen. Casey "fights for us every single day," Mr. O'Brien said, "The Republicans are coming at us from every angle."

Mr. Casey, who was accompanied by his wife, Therese, also spoke briefly and said, "We're moving forward, but we have a tough couple of weeks ahead of us in the campaign."

Today is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 general election, Lackawanna County Director of Elections Marion Medalis said. Voter registration applications will be available today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Department of Elections, 2400 Stafford Ave.

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.